Introduction
Greetings, comrade-officers. Today we look at Soviet artillery and how it is used in Team Yankee as a tool of area denial and destroyer of enemy forces.
Overview
This series of articles will explore the Soviet ground forces in detail and instruct rookies and veterans alike on the principles of Soviet combat doctrine and list-building in Team Yankee, which will be applicable in V1 and the upcoming V2 of the game. In this article we discuss the artillery options available to Soviet and PACT forces and the intricacies of their use as fire support for advancing Soviet troops.
The Red God of War
Artillery has always held a special position of pride in the Russian and Soviet ground forces, with an increased presence of technically skilled officers. It was commonly said that the Soviet army was an artillery army with tanks. Artillery is an integral component of the Russian way of war, and till today the ground forces operate around the uniquely Russian concept of Maneuver By Fire, whereby fire is shifted from target to target without moving the position of the artillery pieces, causing mass destruction of targets within a short period of time.
Artillery is tasked to:
- Achieve and maintain fire superiority
- Destruction / suppression of enemy anti tank assets
- Destruction of enemy forces
- Smoke
Motorized rifle units from division to battalion are assigned their own organic field artillery element - an artillery regiment to a division, an artillery battalion to a regiment, and a mortar battery to a battalion. The same is true of the tank division except that the tank battalion has no organic artillery or mortar unit.
Apart from the very glaring omission of towed and self-propelled mortars in Team Yankee, the options presented in-game are otherwise faithful to history and Soviet players can enjoy fielding a sizable artillery presence for a moderate cost.
Quantity is a quality of its own
Fire superiority is a firepower advantage over the enemy in the course of a given battle or operation. To achieve and maintain fire superiority, a Soviet artillery unit maintains continuous fire on the fire support means of the enemy, especially his infantry and anti tank assets in support of advancing forces.
Soviet doctrine (and most other military doctrines) dictate that a 3:1 force advantage is necessary to achieve victory over enemy positions. In game, this indicates that to achieve assured destruction of a single enemy NATO infantry team, assuming it is in prepared and dug in positions, a mean kill value of 1 is expected. The formula is calculated as such:
ROF x hit chance% x failed saves % x firepower % = mean kill value
For example, FP5+ fire from infantry and accompanying IFVS would add the following:
1 x 16.7% x 33% x 33% = 0.02
The expected value is incredibly low. Even with an ROF of 18 (the expected average for a combination of infantry and IFVs in a firefight), the combined result is just 0.36.
A T72 firing at any dug-in, gone-to-ground NATO infantry would produce the following:
1 x 16.7% x 55% (accounting for Brutal saves) x 83% = 0.08
As you can see from the above expected value, it is highly unlikely a platoon of 4 tanks can take out well-dug in infantry even with brutal guns at a combined value of 0.33.
Artillery helps vastly with the chances, as template fire ignores concealment and multiple guns give bonuses to hit in both V1 and V2 of the game (discussed later).
To illustrate, a platoon of 6 acacias firing on the same position (we are going to assume its already ranged in for sanity's sake) would produce the following:
1 x 50% (bonus from 6 guns + ignoring concealment) x 33%(failed saves) x 83%(firepower 2+) = 0.14
Assuming the artillery template touches 4 targets, the total value would be 0.56. The expected norm would be 1.25, requiring 3 units firing on a single NATO platoon to destroy an enemy team. Without artillery support, this sum drops to a paltry 0.69, demonstrating the need for artillery as a means of destruction of entrenched enemy positions in a combined arms role.
source: The Russian way of war, 2016
Fire plans
As outlined in The Soviet Army: Operations and Tactics, Fire planning is basically designed to suppress enemy defensive capabilities, including artillery, and to cover the deployment and initial assault of the attacking maneuver elements. High priority is given to neutralizing enemy antitank defenses and to being able to engage possible counterattack forces. Fire planning also provides for suppressing enemy strongpoints on the flanks of the attack zones.
A highly centralised and rigid process, fire planning is conducted at a frontal level, with instructions for detailed fire plans on objectives passed down to a regimental level. Consequently, strict adherence to the fire plan is necessary and this is reflected in the skill level of 5+ for soviet artillery, reflecting their poor ability to react to tactical level changes on the battlefield.
Therefore, Soviet commanders should take this account when placing their pre-game ranged-in markers. The initial placement of markers is critical to the soviet playstyle and should take into account the following factors:
Destruction, Neutralization and Harassment
Fire missions are planned with the intent to destroy, neutralize or harass enemy positions. the tasks are designated as follows:
- Destruction: the enemy unit is no longer in a condition to fight effectively
- Neutralization: the enemy unit is expected to suffer 30% losses and is suppressed
- Harassment: the enemy unit is suppressed (pinned)
Outside of 6-gun batteries, small artillery platoons can expect to only conduct neutralization/harassment fire over the course of the game. remember that only a single hit from a template is needed to pin any infantry or unarmored platoon!
Area denial
Soviet commanders would do well to place markers on critical areas, objectives or terrain of importance, such as forests or buildings near objectives, or areas overlooking dominant fire lanes, to deter enemy presence and ambushes. Effective placement of templates, especially salvo templates, deny key areas to infantry and soft vehicles, forcing opponents to re-position their forces in less optimal areas, preferably in the open or in clear avenues of fire.
The ability to cut the battlefield in half with templates will deny the opponent the opportunity to concentrate their forces, giving your troops an easier time on the advance.
Smoke
Smoke is critical in both scenarios of attack and maneuver to give cover to advancing forces or to cut off line of sight across a sector of the battlefield. It is important to plan the line of advance accordingly and place a marker that will be able to cover it. It is also important to note that placing the marker in too obvious a position is a huge telegraph to your opponent on where your forces are going to advance, so some subtlety is needed.
Again, the objective should not be to give complete coverage, but to cut the battlefield in half and force the opponent to make bad decisions. The aim should be to protect your troops from the majority of ATGM or Anti-tank fire as they advance up the board.
Shifting fire
Over the course of the game, Soviet players must plan for their artillery to eventually shift markers. Unless the opponent is obtuse or unable to avoid placing troops on objectives, no one is going to willingly sit under an artillery salvo at the start of the game.
As highlighted above, because the skill level of Soviet artillery is abysmal, shifting fire should only be undertaken at most twice a game to ensure that players get the most mileage from their guns. Maths-wise, with direction from a Forward Observer, the range-in marker is able to be shifted 75% of the time by the third attempt, but this is not a guarantee. Therefore, the second marker position should be aimed at heavy concentrations of infantry or soft targets and not be moved further unless absolutely necessary.
Likewise, if an enemy position is sufficiently neutralised for assault, fire can be shifted onto other positions as needed. Just don't expect too much from your conscripts.
Fire Planning exercises
Based on the above theory, how would you place your initial range in marker in the following scenario based on possible enemy positions?
How many guns?
Each Soviet formation, barring the air assault battalion has access to an organic Carnation artillery unit, as well as further optional support of up to 3 other artillery units from the division support. Soviet players can theoretically field up to 4 templates from a single formation, but should consider the difficulties of having all the artillery units on the field at once. In missions with reserves, artillery is a low priority to have on board and many points will be wasted on artillery that cannot even open fire until turn 4 at the minimum. Therefore, 1-3 templates should be the optimum most attack oriented players would aim for, and maneuver and defense players should only field 1 unit at most.
Preparing for V2: Artillery in the role of suppression
In Team Yankee V2, bringing the rules in-line with Flames of war V4 brings several changes to artillery.
- Artillery now hits targets on their base to-hit value regardless of defensive modifiers
- repeat bombardments force rerolls to infantry and vehicle saves
- ranging in becomes harder if the template touches terrain
All in all, this is a net buff that vastly increases the lethality of artillery, at the cost of being slightly harder to range in. However, Soviet players will immediately notice that their average range-in chances drop to 6+ (!!) without forward observer support. However, with the changes to the way reserves work, Soviet players can also expect to have the majority of their artillery on board at the beginning of the game. saturating the target objective in templates is a viable strategy and players should practice fire plans with 2-3 templates with minimal movement.
Soviet artillery
Note: The expected kill value is based on 6 guns firing (because why not)
2S1 Carnation
Expected Kill value (per target): 0.11
The 2S1 Carnation is the baseline artillery unit for the soviets, and it's main point is being a jack-of-all-trades vehicle. The Carnation can and has been used in conflicts as an effective anti-tank gun with AT21, seeing use as an assault gun as late as the Ukraine-Russia war.
2S3 Acacia
Expected Kill value (per target): 0.14
The Acacia costs exactly the same as the carnation and boasts FP2+, at the cost of being a dedicated backline unit. Unique to this unit is the ability to utilise Krasnopol laser guided rounds as anti-bunker weapons. However, because the rounds hit as per normal shooting rules, they can be wildly inaccurate and are not very effective for the points upgrade paid per gun (+4 points for the full 6 guns)
BM21 Hail
Expected Kill value (per target): 0.08*
The successor of the famed Katyusha, the Hail specialises in area saturation with its rocket munitions and works well to pin down enemy positions with the huge salvo template. With a mediocre FP rating of 4+, don't expect to delete dug-in infantry. Being unarmored and fairly cheap, this unit is a common sight for smoke and artillery support in many lists.
*This is barely comparable to a T72's main gun.
Pact artillery: The mighty DANA
Expected Kill value (per target): 0.18
East German, Polish and Czech Artillery differ from their Soviet counterparts in being more skilled, boasting a mighty 4+ skill, boosted by forward observers to an astounding 3+. Able to respond to tactical situations more effectively than their Soviet brethren, PACT artillery can be used in a manner similar to NATO artillery.
While lacking access to the Acacia, Polish and Czech forces can enjoy the DANA SPG, a gun which NATO players will soon learn to hate. Armed with an autoloader, the -1 bonus to hit gives the DANA the task of spot removal of infantry sitting on objectives.
Closing
In conclusion, red artillery, despite its drawbacks, is a very potent tool in the hands of a savvy commander and should be used judiciously in the conduct of an operation. In our next article, we will discuss battle drills in the conduct of an attack through the context of Team Yankee.
About the Writer:
Eddie is an avid painter who also enjoys anime, studying military history and hopes that Girls Und Panzer will come true one day so that everyone can resolve their differences with tank Airsoft.
Resources:
The Soviet army: Operations and tactics FM 100-2-1 ,1984, Headquarters, department of the Army (USA)
The Russian way of war, 2016, Lester W. Grau & Charles K. Bartles, Foreign Military Studies Office
